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A Cape Breton priest says he regrets making controversial comments about a “residential” school in a speech last week after he received an honorary degree during Cape Breton University’s convocation.
Rev. Norman MacPhee, the parish priest for Holy Cross Parish in Glace Bay, N.S., spoke on May 28 about a school he helped establish decades ago in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It is a school for girls, called Fatima House.
“That school has worked so very, very well. The people in Sydney still support it,” MacPhee said in his speech. “Residential schools don’t get good press, but this one gets very good press in Honduras.”
Janice Googoo was in the crowd, supporting her nephew, who was one of the graduates.
She says she was shocked by MacPhee’s speech with residential school survivors in the audience.
“We’ve got a priest standing up there talking about all the good things about residential schools,” Googoo said. “From the history of what we have seen with residential schools and the Catholic [Church] being involved in them, it does not paint any type of image of positivity.”
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MacPhee declined an interview request from CBC News but in a statement apologized that his remarks had offended survivors of residential schools in Canada and their families.
“I recognize that this is a deeply painful history, and I regret that my comments caused distress on what should have been a moment of pride and celebration for graduates and their families,” the statement said.
The Diocese of Antigonish says MacPhee was living in Honduras in the 1960s as a missionary priest. He worked with a convent of Carmelite nuns, who decided to develop a school for girls from isolated villages, where education is not readily available.
At the time, MacPhee was parish priest at Our Lady of Fatima in Sydney River, N.S. The parish became involved in supporting the development of this school.
The diocese says the school has evolved to include over 200 local children.
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CBU posted a statement on social media responding to criticism about MacPhee’s comments.
“While we recognize the good intentions in speaking about supporting young women in Honduras, there is no residential school that should ever get good press,” the university’s statement said.
“We acknowledge that even the words ‘residential schools’ carry a deeply painful legacy for Indigenous peoples in Canada, and right here in Mi’kma’ki.”
The statement said residential schools were sites of cultural suppression, loss and lasting trauma, and there is “nothing about residential schools to be celebrated.”
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